Question Number: 17029

Law 13 - Free Kicks 10/1/2007

RE: varsity High School

Richard Gramolini of Farmingville, NY United States asks...

In High School mechanics, If a player asks for ten yars folowing an awarded direct kick, is it correct to then walk off the ten yards and restart with a whistle? Or do you just direct them to move back until you decide it is approximately ten yards?
Is walking it off mechanically incorrect?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

It basically says you don't know where 10 yards would be, so you have to walk it off. But let's back up a bit. In the first place, players should not have to ask for the 10 yards, they are entitled to the 10, and the defenders have NO right to be in that space from the moment you blow the whistle and point your arm. They should be retreating as fast as their little legs will carry them. Of course, they think they do have a right to interfere with the kick, so they stand there. The proactive referee will be telling them to move it back 10 without getting in the way of a quick free kick by the other team. If it appears a ceremonial free kick must take place, you must step in. If I have to do that more than once, I will be checking the players not retreating for color blindness and that 10 yards I set will be my best estimate, and I will be certain it is AT LEAST 10 yards - get my drift? You will learn with practice. And, on most HS fields, the 10 yards are marked for you with hash marks - you can get pretty close easy. If no marks, I hope you've taken some time to go out to a field or your back yard and practiced where 10 yards is so you can eyeball it with amazing accuracy. Sometimes if we look like we know what we are doing, we can fool them until we do. Best of luck,

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

What you need to do is get hold of a size 5 ball and 30 feet of rope. In your back garden, or someplace that is large enough, put the ball on the floor and practice getting yourself to 30 feet without looking like you're doing anything other than going to that exact point. It takes time to get this down but it is well worth the effort.

Now to the failure to respect the required distance at the taking of a free kick: first time make sure you warn them loudly! Second and subsequent times the closest player gets cautioned and shown the yellow card. Same with a player picking up the ball and handing it to you or throwing it up in the air to delay things. Warn once then caution. Do this until they get the message or you must abandon the match because one side fell below 7 players.

In the NFHS high school soccer rules this is buried in rule 12, sect 8 art 4, b.: The coach may be cautioned or disqualified either for team misconduct or for bench misconduct that cannot be attributed to a specific individual.

I look at this and wonder if 5 or more players crowed around the ball delaying a free kick is "team misconduct". We see it all the time and perhaps NFHS has got something there. I'm sure it wasn't intended as a coach gotcha, but there it is in black and white.

The reason I [we] advocate dealing harshly with failing to respect the required distance and delaying the restart of play is because someone must. The Game has become action then we all stand around until the referee marches off the distance and blows for the restart. Note the restart of play is a free kick, free being the operative word. Players not respecting the distance or delaying things further harm the side just harmed by the foul play, this should be intolerable to any referee. This day and age it isn't, join us and start the ball rolling.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Beside practicing the 10-yard distance in your yard, you might want to practice it on the field. First, your perspective in a small yard will be different than in the open field. Second, even without pointy-ball yardlines on a field, you can take some cues from the soccer markings. The center circle is 10 yards. The distance from the penalty mark to the penalty arc is 10 yards. The distance from the goal area boundary line to the penalty area boundary line is 12 yards - your 10 yards will be just a bit less. Put down a ball at random, move to where you think 10 yards is, then measure how correct you were with your length of string. Repeat until you consistently get AT LEAST 10 yards from the ball. I repeat, AT LEAST 10 yards.

When you know where 10 yards is, and the players guess about 8, eh, give them the benefit of doubt a time or two. If they guess 2 yards is 10 yards, they need a serious upgrade in their estimating software. You've got a little piece of yellow hardware that might help them out.